Maine
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CHIPRA Provides More Funds to Help States Pay for Language Services
By Mara Youdelman, National Health Law Program As immigrant communities expand across the United States, many healthcare providers and patients have encountered communication barriers making it difficult for patients to receive proper care. Yet proper communication is as important to healthcare as a stethoscope. You can’t listen to someone’s heart without a stethoscope. How can…
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Holding Steady, Looking Ahead: Annual Findings of a 50-State Survey of Eligibility Rules, Enrollment and Renewal Procedures, and Cost Sharing Practices in Medicaid and CHIP, 2010-2011
Over the past year, as the nation’s attention was focused on the country’s economic problems and the debate over the passage of broader health care reform, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) continued to play their vital role of providing coverage to millions of people who otherwise lack affordable coverage options. In 2010,…
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New England Advocates Share Successful Strategies for Growing Children’s Coverage
By Eugene Lewit, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation A new report by the New England Alliance for Children Health (NEACH) tells an impressive advocacy success story. More importantly, it draws practical ideas from the advocates who made it happen, serving as a guide to advocacy strategies that work. As most regular Say Ahhh! readers…
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What will this cost us – continued…
By Martha Heberlein Since the last time we talked about state estimates of the cost of health reform, several more have put them out. A few, in particular, struck me – Maine, Maryland, and Wisconsin. Why, you might ask? Because these three states found that health reform would save them money. John Holahan of the Urban…
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State Commissions: A Few States Take Their First Steps Towards Implementing Reform
By Martha Heberlein While the federal government still has a great deal on its plate in terms of implementing health reform (we at CCF are eagerly awaiting every bit of guidance and regulation CMS can throw at us!), many key tasks now move to the states. Should we set up a new high-risk pool? What…
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Affordability is Key for Health Reform
By Sara Gagné-Holmes, Executive Director of Maine Equal Justice Partners In drafting a national plan, Washington should follow Maine’s lead. In the health care debate, most agree that costs will not be controlled until everyone is covered and able to access the right care, including preventive care and management of chronic illnesses, at the right…
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Weathering the Storm: States Move Forward on Child and Family Health Coverage Despite Tough Economic Climate
This report provides a first look at state activity after the passage of CHIPRA and the availability of increased Medicaid funding in the economic stimulus package. It finds that despite unprecedented fiscal challenges, all but a few states held steady on children’s health coverage, and twenty-three states took steps to move forward. This progress on…
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Closing the Coverage Gap: Trends in Health Insurance Coverage for Children
From 1996-97 to 2003-04, the uninsured rate of low-income children was reduced by a third; however, the national data mask significant variation across the states in how children are faring. To provide a state-specific perspective on the issue, this brief examines health insurance trends for children in all 50 states and the District of Columbia…